Inside Impossible Requests, Private Clubs & Billionaire Thinking | Karan Bhangay | FO447 Raj Shamani

45:49Raj has to say, okay, I like this man or I like this person. He has to be here. I don't think anyone outside can claim that I can get them on this podcast. It is your choice. So that I cannot. I can just tell Raj saying, Raj, this is a great case today. That's all. Fair. Which is what we do. Which is what you do and it's fair. But tell me, why do people want membership at a club where when they're not even from the city let's say Bay Club and Soho House Mumbai either Bay Club میں نہیں miltah kisi ko easily which according to your saying right to ab jab mili nai raha hai or he don't stay in Bombay correct to kyun chahiyya hunnhe look it's ke do layers here ek to baut hi interesting hai main mere customer ko ek bar pere unknowingly mila or usne 2 saal membership liya 4-4 lakh rupees every message we read every recommendation we read use only 2-3 times in 2 years and he's paid me 8 lakhs in 2 years and I asked him hey Vikram you don't use us what's the point it's okay you know don't have to don't continue if you don't do that he said you're like a revolver I'll use you when I want to use you shut up and just do your business I know what I'm doing and cut to a couple of weeks later he purchased like 20 tickets to FIFA Qatar World Cup big bill for Qatar World Cup there were so many people who went there that I would send my team together with them because there are so many people where they land and they will have a match and they need reservations so I'll do it that is one point and one thing why they want to be a part of these clubs is look at Raj you've been working here you've come I don't know if you have a mediocre or below your intellect.

47:47It doesn't have much fun. It's a bit of a lot. You have to come here. But you have to come here. You have to come here. You have to come here. You have to come here. You have to come here. You have to come here. You can see clubs. There are clubs here. Here are like-minded people. and if you have a lot of knowledge, you have a brush and shine. You have a lot of knowledge that you have a fifth class of kids with, you have a lot of established. When you have a lot of people with clubs, you will reflect on it. And you need to be in Delhi. In Delhi, DLF, then in societies, all of them will be in Aralias, Aralias, Aralias.

48:36in the house. Then Bay Club. Then I think Aryaman's Birla's Club. I don't know what it's called. Then Soho House. And back in Bangalore also there are a couple of such clubs. Quorum is another club. Everybody wants to be a part of it. Then club system, EO, YPO. Every EO guy wants to go to YPO, be a YPO member. But it's easier to become part of let's say a quorum or jolis or all of these not necessarily i'm asking you what's the difference of course comparatively to what let's say a bay club is more more difficult than jolis 100 okay and then quorum jolis is more difficult than quorum yeah and then so quorum quorum is now with the investments they have got and uh with more real estate i think they would want to make more sense because they would rather chase a critical mass of seven eight outlets and then propagate all of them together and then that cross connection etc but i have been a big big fan of eu and ypo i don't know how they pulled off and i am so jealous of the founders they're never in these events but these events are of billionaires who are vouching for these two brands and they are often building on those brands and that fellow who are founded it gave them so many nice rules and regulations that they so blatantly follow and these are not normal people these are people thousand ten thousand twenty thousand crores who are saying oh they wear a badge of their name and there's something written below that and i'm like however you did that man i really want to be insane they're never at this event so can you help someone become member of ypo if they are eligible yes of course we will send we a lot of my customers are your ypo members of course we have our channels we will definitely represent you have b2b partnerships both of them there's no b2b partnership of course if they just represent them a better way yeah so that i was a part of uh eu uh greater karnataka okay which is a new chapter in belgao so the ones who are not able to get through different other chapters in bangalore etc can apply for this so we would just pass the information mr x wants to become member of ypo okay so which chapter and let's say bombay chapter so bombay chapter then it has a protocol of course they have a protocol yeah but if he is eligible he can also apply it not necessarily I mean application of course and the person of that level mostly network but our network is good at least I personally know the founding members of YPO in India they were to look at investing in ours etc so we do have a very good rapport I mean all the other I'm the official concierge for EO Bangalore YPO Bangalore soon Hyderabad EO chapter Punjab I just established EO and YPO and fish where the fishes are these are guys who someone else is filtered I may rather go to these UHNIs so much more easier for you to easier why would I have to break my head on other chapters and other avenues and my marketing almost there is nothing because because it's a crème de la crème now people are not on Instagram nor on Facebook if they are there they don't know so what's the most difficult club to get in what's the most difficult club to get in membership club or even India I think the Tath Chambers they have a club which I think is a little difficult to get through and let's say where the entry is very difficult can you get them in there there's a club in Germany called Bagan.

52:24Have you gotten people there? I haven't really got a request for that yet. You haven't gotten? No, I haven't. But do you know about it? Yeah, I've seen a lot of reels around it and they can just stop anyone and it's totally up to them. You cannot crack it. You cannot crack it. It's the bounce room. I just say no to Lady Gaga also and it doesn't matter. I have only seen videos around this. I don't know if you'll be able to strike that. but yeah we'll give it a shot but now someone has not been requested what's tell me has anyone ever asked you to do something illegal and you've said no yeah give me an example you know having those infused having those infused brownies is illegal right in India but it's legal in Amsterdam I believe they deliver it to your hotel drug infused drug infused brownies etc so we had to tell them no while they were in one part of Europe but we said if you go to Netherlands maybe there is one option where we connect you to the vendor and he will get it dropped so that was interesting so have you noticed that the amount of they are less complaining they are more classy no they are very classy like someone who is rich because you provide services right who complains more that entry level guy or the top level guy entry level guy the top level guys are too good i mean i look up to them i was looking um i think he'll be easy on me ranjan pai from manipal the way he puts his requests the way he accommodates the way he you do services for him okay in fact gautam pai who's my investor so well spoken from manipal so well spoken the way they articulate there have been sometimes we have fucked up but the way they navigated beautiful Nithin beautiful one day Nithin is Nikamat okay this brother our team has been flight book and Nithin Nithin the person is going and is going to go and they are talking to us our team will call our CEO of the influence our influence like that, they have to take a flight.

54:49Eventually, they have to take it. But, in the nuance of the people who have burst out in that situation, we could trash it. There is no one. There is no politeness at that level. I would have goosebumps. I mean, these T1, T2 airport cabs which go there, go there. And our teams navigate the job. They know their character from customer behavior. and I'm a big big fan of people with absolute power being calm and the way they articulate themselves I get to learn a lot from these people actually it's just phenomenal pretty interesting pretty interesting actually they can just trash it's okay with them you know there's just one thing in common my customers need to say truth if something's not happened then it's not if something's delayed then it's delayed something can happen doubtful so one secret you have to just tell what is that you have to if you are saying that you are 10 minutes and 12 minutes it is his on his forgiveness we survive until 10 minutes he is okay even if it is 2 minutes late it has to be mentioned so we have that's our only way to navigate this we just have to tell you that sir US visa 10 days

56:17what's the rarest luxury in the world right now rarest luxury experience experience I am personally fond of people should try Antarctica and that there are these new cruise lines which takes you to death I believe disconnect from internet go to a space where we don't even know for 7 days if you are alive or dead or whatever but I find it very interesting if someone would want to go to Antarctica absolute, fully covered comfort, but experience a world where no humans live experience that wildlife that nature, the aggression of it and just know how irrelevant you are and then come back, because everything else for me is attainable that same thing shows that different ways what you call tourism in Europe etc my personal travel has always been extreme i have tried everest the base camp i would want to try the summit but i thought that was also interesting eight days different terrains different people just walking to your true gut your true health your true jose or the way this runs the system of going to everest base camp and coming back this for me is interesting other people of course they love Switzerland people love New Zealand people love the rarest experiences which you have heard and you have seen and you have gotten it done for people I think there was this New Year's where people would want to be in Tokyo and then later in the night in New York happens that you celebrated twice the same year that was like something one of my customers did and i was like wow that's like two new years in one day that i think is a great experience one very rare kind i think space tourism will open sooner or later that will to start with it will be like ai etc and to be able to other experience some really phenomenal properties have come out especially from brands like six senses etc which are really out of the world to experience to even experience these latest set of global musical events is also really amazing the entire energy of attending Taylor Swift and all the other new yeah

58:54in fact we were auctioning this bat which I think Virat hit that 6 and that's under auction under our surveillance from one of our vendors that's also I think auction is going on 17 lakhs but I don't know where it will head another thing with thatch and eyes is that they are very confused that what to gift Raj Shamanic Raj is all so the customers and when you have a birthday our whole team is seeing that we give it so what do we see that is a very interesting space So we mostly collectors and ask them what we can give you. So we figured out the oldest book we gifted another customer. This is the oldest book available in the market for sale and we purchased this for you.

59:52Then we got like something World War this gun used was for you. Now that becomes the difficult part. I mean, I think every time this is Karan Jor's birthday in Bombay, all my customers are asking us what to send to them. Almost there are three, four florists who from three, four days prior just celebrate Karan Jor's birthday because everybody is sending him flowers plus something else. I'm like, wow. And then I realized there is a different room only to collect gifts for many of my clients. And I find it very fine. Pretty cool. What do people give you? What do you find? rarest collectibles for them or stupidly very simple and softest of things like either this or that there's no mid luxury there's no mid level brand people kind of like in my customer base it's either extreme or as soft as just linen shawl or some pashmina so if your customers if you are and you want to gift something and you're my friend and somebody who can't think about what to give give me an adventure even if it's something i've done i would love to do it again really because i i love adventures so what happens in finland is that uh bentley takes its customers so a lake gets frozen for only a specific time and they give you this bentley and there are 20 30 of them and then you are on this frozen lake.

1:01:29Sweet. Yeah. So I would love to do that. So I would do like crazy adventures. Stuff like that. Yes, of course. Okay. Tell me there are three things I want to do. Can you get it done? Tell me. Let's go. So let's try. So my answer is yes. Yes. Okay. So let's say first is I want to do. I have to do bungee jumping but I have to do with the mountains. I would do it with a helicopter. So the helicopter stays stagnant? And I will jump from the helicopter. And then? That's a bungee. Like helicopter will be tied up the rope. And will be below. Any mountain? Any mountain. Anywhere in the world. But with complete safety and security, I want to do that.

1:02:14So let's start. Let's start working on it. From mountain. Oh, mountain. In mountain range, you have to do desert. Mountain and then the helicopter will go. and just like and then pick it up again will that be able to bear your weight yeah people have done they used to the last I got to know from somebody who is a friend of mine who has many adventures this Russian dude in the UK he said professional stunt crew you will get them together get a copter and then you will do it so that'd be so I think cut to give me 24 hours I'll send you options so tell me how okay example let's build this key

1:03:04I think the royal box of this the Wimbledon piece is one two of what is it tell me explain me I think that's only reserved for the royal family and maybe one or two otherwise but you can't take that there I think I can't take that and I honestly this particular I have a resource which is my team that knows all the nuances I know I don't know about tennis but there are some events that are specifically for industry leaders like for example world economic forum etc this it's doable yet not doable depending on who you are what your representation is and stuff like that i mean it's limited to that i mentioned i would have mentioned of the bar in germany which has bergen bergen you can't buy and get in yeah you can't buy and get royal box you can't buy and get in yeah no matter how rich you are even bay club i don't think how rich you are matters for them to give you a membership doesn't happen like that raya there are some people who are really holding what they truly believe and that to crack even her mess i mean nobody can promise you the bag nobody yeah even with certain watches i don't think anybody can promise saying oh we'll get it even as far as rolex is you know there is some sort of protocol they follow and following the protocol is their business tell me about the famous ones like monaco gp f1 med gala yeah med gala people can go yeah in fact there is so much around that so many products how much do you pay and get there there's so many products around these there are in fact meet and greets with many of these events at the top most level right you will get to meet certain celebrities there's a cost to it even during tennis matches you want to meet you know um the legends there's a cost to it yeah med gala also like there are there are different layers to this if you are able to donate sponsor an x amount there are many people who have actually been a part of the red carpet etc what's the most expensive experience you have curated for somebody so there is an airport in switzerland which is very close to a skiing spot and that this customer actually flew his charter and they would never allow this charter to land in this airport because it's a military airport and he said team if i can land here it's just another 20 minutes i'll get to my skiing spot otherwise i have to travel all the six hours i don't want to do that then my team actually figured out to speaking to that airport authority saying what does it take for a private charter to land here and they said we don't do that but if you really want to do this then you have to get one other ex-military pilot who will get onto the same charter and help you land here and against which you have to make this much money in euros and we said oh this is so expensive and this might take some sort of legwork and we told it to the customer so the only way it's possible for you to land at this military airport with your private charter and your kids is through getting an ex-military guy to be in the flight and all the other things they gave us a list of things we have to do and there was this entire check on this customer and who is he etc they went about telling this to the customer and i was thousand percent sure he'll say no but he said yes he made those payments he just landed just so that he does not have that six hour thing and for me it was astonishing and I was having goosebumps saying what and then the more I see this the more I go back to not being in the race that's why some 60 lakhs or something for just the landing yeah because it was just not landing then he could also take off from there and he was like four or five of them and also flexing it no

1:07:32so that flexing value is something flexing value is the highest I mean with reservations being at these places these events imagine you are at certain event and you know that this fellow is sitting there and you're sitting here that flex for him is what he may be seeking for may not necessarily be that that is giving him comfort often maybe the view of sitting again watching a match and cheering along with people is more fun I mean this happened with the World Cup here while I was also delivering tickets etc quite early in my startup career with Indulge I realized the ones who are sitting in the AC box and watching the cricket match have no clue at all there's a TV box what do you have to eat?

1:08:15that you sit with a little crowd and experience it and then I was able to I was able to sit with them but I was able to sit with them you know all that like all of that drums and people and all that but can normal people get tickets to expensive places why not like Wimbledon can normal people get it everything is now commercialized very little is left for royalty everything is sold out is what I'm saying when everything is sold out I mean if everything is sold out then how would you get access so that's what I'm asking no there's no chance you can be coi reseller ya coi structure ya haan wo hota hai na you have connections product or service reseller market hai so there so you have that resellers network yeah that you can get things done globally yes globally in fact that's an undercurrent every industry has that if you see with all the music events happening in India people are just buying it to resell it and it's just happening so blatantly it's sold out on the day one and the event is 3-4 months later and by the time all of these people are again reselling through whatsapp through social platforms and communities saying I have 4 tickets I can't go do you want to take it and all that is happening I don't know maybe there is a market in that space I was reading somewhere you've arranged VC breakfast at VC's brunch or champagne at Mount Everest.

1:09:57What was it? So what happens is that Delhi, Kathmandu, Kathmandu, Everest. There are two spots in which this can be established where a full table is only set for you. You come in that very morning, have your breakfast, then Kathmandu and Delhi. Simple. This actually happened precisely because when I was trekking, my share he put me on to someone who just started off this because he was a local back in that village on the top and then I started to talk to him and then that person used to drive helicopters there it was a big business that they access from the there a network there it was a level in fact it's very funny you you also get a cappuccino today.

1:10:51So... Base camp on cappuccino? Base camp on champagne. Yeah, champagne and... It's a black tree. And it's a little further base camp. You have to have a chowmean, cappuccino, all these things. I was going to go for 4-5 years. I was getting everything. Now something will happen. But this was a little early advantage. that because I had the relationship and I had the relationship and I told him that if you have customers then we can do this charter helicopter piece like Aertmandu to Everest and that I will do it and that I will set up the whole let these people come I will make sure I take in Everest in water too almost everything is on top that is so expensive because there is no other way which can go up so we've now so done that it's casual

1:11:49So they were choosing a unique experience for a very important meeting between set of investors, board of directors, etc. And while the request came in, we said, okay, will you be able to give us like two full days? But, you know, we could do this. And then the team went about hand-holding them. Katmandu, Katmandu, Basecamp, Basecamp. breakfast photos all of that they didn't and then coming back and you said that there was another thing which i was reading which were very very interesting not absurd interesting i would say

1:12:35yeah that's the highest demand your wife will have no that is crazy i assume why nanny need to be before the demand and supply was slightly proportionate any working class couple wants a nanny their supply and demand ratio is very bad I believe some people are building startups around this or stuff like that but finding the right nanny also is very very important it's not that just offering a nanny right like finding a burkin you still how to navigate that but finding the right nanny for your household is something fair it's difficult it's difficult can you arrange that now we have evolved but yet it takes effort and time for you to be able to find the right find the right one it's very risky to give your baby in someone's hand for months and years maybe and they become a part of your bedroom to be able to find the right nanny.

1:13:40As such, supply and demand is very different. I mean, almost everybody wants a nanny right now. Almost everyone. How can this even happen? They want them to be unmarried or some want them to be married. They want them to be young. They want to speak. They want the nannies to speak English because they're like, oh, their kid will pick up English very soon. They want so many permutation combinations. Sometimes it becomes very difficult and nannies also want to be paid well. They want their own room. They want privacy. Then they want one holiday. Holiday as in, they want to go back home for Diwali and then they want to go back home for Holi.

1:14:19And then they want to only work for certain hours and they want the right, almost the same food and so on and so forth. Then it becomes slightly complicated. So have you noticed that the wealthy people are more specific and more confused? The people are more confused I mean I feel like everywhere where there is a large menu the person is confused where it is fixed that I need this that little it knows what I need in the same space UHNI knows that they can do so much and then they are often confused we try to narrow because it's also madness when you have the man and women on the same group and they have very different ways of experiencing the same place and then between them we have to keep our calm because we have to keep our calm because we are in peace between husband and wife and wife.

1:15:14Then when those people narrow down that they want to experience this, then we have our… But often I tell my team that you don't ask their opinions, options. First, give your options first and say either this or that. It's so much easier for a person to choose this or that or give them a you know plate full of things eventually they will end up doing nothing or they'll be more lost because they didn't do certain other things which they must later believe that oh this was better and that is the problem just suggest the top two and be like if these are not ready then give them more but this is top two like your helicopter bungee jumping I think I'll give you two options instead of saying seven mountains seven different visas then you will actually you will actually you will actually you will actually human psychology all experience you will experience you will experience in your mind then you will then you will narrow it that this is the most adventurous but when you do it you will feel maybe K2 would be good because there is water going down or the forest or the Cape Town also shows so that will keep you I have a visa I have a visa I have a visa where do you have you have a visa you will call you will call you will come

1:16:30crazy this is pretty cool though like a lot of people who have like this I could instantly think of at least 20 friends in my head jinn koi chahiya ho correct tell me one last thing which I would really want to do is joh bhi aap services provide karte ho joh bhi experiences curate karte ho jaisi cheez hai leke aate ho un sab se commission lehte ho na bich mein lehra tha because I was desperate in starting one year because I never heard before the fund raise concept I didn't listen to it I didn't make money like money I made money I made profit I made money I made money then of course I made volume and stuff like that it has been a problem I mean it was my life a problem actually engineering I did a magazine when I got good when I got good I realized that social media I got my money I got everyone goes to social media every meeting I'm going to go to Instagram I'm like I'm going to play the whole magazine I don't have followers on Instagram I'm just here then I closed that then I was frustrated because Instagram everything analytics is giving me who click on how much click on and then I'm like let me do one thing I get my magazine readers and advertisers I don't know how to do Instagram touch and feel luxury brand that workout so much workout took a 2017 year for four-five years I got to know so many people, when it started being mature I didn't have any other options with Grace.

1:18:22When COVID happened, everything was running on WhatsApp. Medical, online, offline, payments, everything, because we adapted to that technology. Like it opened, there was a full torque effect. The whole luxury industry and UHNIs had to be full. The whole world had to go. The whole thing was not to buy. And those people were holding on to it for three years or whatever. And that's when I arrived. And that's where the first critical mass came. Otherwise, a guy starting right now, he will only be able to crack 15-20 families us ke baad ho stale ho jay abhi jab hum 300-400 peh hai i think abhi ya haan se thousand jana aek journey hai thousand ke baad woh explode ho saktah hai so i am very happy that yeh joh kuch hua it's not aaj ka i mean it's been a lot of work which has gone but koj commission he liet hai abhi nahi so starting me survival ke liye of course hum log lere reth hai commission lakin fir me shark tank pe shark tank pe jane ke pehle we decided that my investor came from the new he said no you have to only count the revenue of memberships and that's your only membership and no commissions neither from brands nor from customers there's no service charge what was the first we were doing starting of the company was established at 1 lakh rupees per annum in which 5 % service charge was taken from both sides and that time we were making some money but what did I realize that if a customer is 1 lakh and a year 10 crore is taking a $10 crore on any other thing additionally I'm giving 5 lakh rupiah service charge and vice versa this was very interesting on the paper but from a customer standpoint and an emotion standpoint I thought 4 lakhs membership with zero commission both sides is the best way because I should only grow in the number of customers subscription yeah what happened on Shark Tank we had an invite we didn't apply in our mind that Shark Tank this luxury which is today etc email came because in economic times there was a lot of articles about indulge and it came organically so Shark Tank team said this is very interesting right to me then I did a survey with my team that time we were like 2022 18 of them said no don't go why?

1:20:33they were like luxury industry we never saw that Shark Tank will see there no one there has come like a brand that's UHNI's that you focus on the 1 % and you don't need to go to the 1 % or you can get a risk. But by that time, we didn't have capital in the bank. We were sitting in our whole practice and sitting in SOP and we thought that if there's so much marketing and there's an opportunity where you can become a household name. Then we said, okay, let's do it. But that was just a gut feeling. Then when we came here, first time we faced the cameras, first time we told our story and it was very organic, nothing manipulated, no one piece which was like the outcome was really brilliant we became a household name with vendors, clients NRIs adapted quite a lot because their families who are in India we could have service them because the first part of Shark Tank only came on YouTube global not in YouTube India then India eventually we all sat together in office and sat on TV we loved it and then by the end of that january we had like one big spike of customers then we became and you know a sizable product or business and we totally respect value and enjoy that we were on shark tank i mean it's another thing altogether to stand validate yourself give a chance for someone you're giving your right of someone having their opinion on you with that 10 minutes they have heard you, they have no idea where you're coming from none of them belong to our industry none and I'm not too sure in their own space if they've done much just by themselves or what they've built like some of them have done, some of them are not I don't know but I'm giving them onus to decide on who I am is like a gut thing but we took that and we accepted whatever they said Aman was very sweet so were some others and some other people look at it very differently it's all fine but eventually I'm very thankful to Shark Tank because now we registered in history that we went on Shark Tank as we some people know that that show for them means a lot because it takes courage to do something not coming from that background neither am I I am not a consumer luxury products I am a very simple not by choice that is the real that is the truth to be able to try to say doing this I mean how much risky it is to manage a billionaire I mean he can shoot me down now there are 300 of them and we are still on it but now we are a little more relaxed well thank you so much thank you for spending time this means a lot I mean I don't know how to tell you you are like lighting up so many lives you're not lighting just me I can't tell you there must be so many people who are attached to me who are not directly working with me maybe a maid's son who's going to school even he's attached to me in some capacity and you are just lighting with absolute truth of what we are doing will affect his life also so what you're doing is phenomenal Thank you so much.

1:24:08We are trying just like you to be able to make it. We are figuring out every day. Figuring out is a habit for us. It's a movement. It's for people like us who are ambitious and want to figure out things in life. And I'll tell you this is the best because I see that after arriving a person does what does it do. And when I see and this is figuring out space, I think figuring out space, it's unbelievable. It is. Well, all the best to you as well. Thank you. What do you play? Now I'm playing a paddle. A lot. Now I'm getting a racket. It's amazing. I'm not watching a racket. But I played this morning also.

1:24:50Paddle is a sport. No, actually, I'm playing squash 20 years. I played squash in my life at 6 to 8. Crazy. Where I'm in Belgium, India, Hyderabad, Kerala. My work took me to different places. but squash racket and that was my romance that was my game that was my spirituality that was peace to me and that was aggression that was everything thank you so much for watching this episode end to the end now you have to do three things first of all subscribe to this channel because as much as you subscribe we will get better and valuable guests for you number two tell me in the comments what did you feel good and bad so that we can repeat mistakes and And which guest you want to see in our podcast so that we can take them and give you more value.

1:25:42And number three, you have to share this episode with someone else. Because one conversation can change someone's life. I'll see you next time. Until then, keep figuring out.

1:26:04you